WHY ARE YOU NOT BREEDING? A STUDY ON THE REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS OF CAPTIVE WOLVERINES (Gulo g. gulo) María Slof Pacilio Master’s thesis • 30 ECTS Uppsala 2019 Why are you not breeding? A study on the reproductive success of captive wolverines (Gulo g. gulo) María Slof Pacilio Supervisor: Jenny Loberg, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, Department of Animal Environment and Health Co-supervisor: Lisa Lundin, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, Department of Animal Environment and Health External Supervisor: Eva Andersson, EEP Coordinator Wolverine, Foundation Nordens Ark Examiner: Claes Anderson, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet, Department of Animal Environment and Health Credits: 30 credits Level: Second cycle, A2E Course title: Independent Project in Biology Course code: EX0871 Place of publication: Uppsala Year of publication: 2019 Online publication: https://stud.epsilon.slu.se Keywords: Breeding Success, Wolverine, Reproduction, Zoo, Animal Welfare, Behavior, Enrichment, Training, Zookeepers Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science Department of Animal Environment and Health 2 Table of Contents Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................... 3 ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. 5 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 6 Aim of the study .................................................................................................................... 8 MATERIAL AND METHODS ......................................................................................................... 9 The online survey .................................................................................................................. 9 Data handling ...................................................................................................................... 10 RESULTS ................................................................................................................................. 14 Enclosure ............................................................................................................................ 14 Enclosure size .................................................................................................................. 14 Enclosure complexity ....................................................................................................... 15 Environmental enrichment ............................................................................................... 15 Indoor accommodations................................................................................................... 15 Nest boxes/dens .............................................................................................................. 16 Neighboring species ......................................................................................................... 16 Wolverine biology................................................................................................................ 16 Age ................................................................................................................................. 16 Health ............................................................................................................................. 17 Social behavior ................................................................................................................ 17 Abnormal/Stereotypic behavior ........................................................................................ 17 Institution characteristics ..................................................................................................... 17 Diet ................................................................................................................................. 17 Experience....................................................................................................................... 18 Training ........................................................................................................................... 18 Human-animal interaction ................................................................................................... 19 Keeper effect ................................................................................................................... 19 Visitor effect .................................................................................................................... 19 Hierarchical cluster analysis ................................................................................................. 20 DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................ 22 Enclosure ............................................................................................................................ 22 Enclosure size .................................................................................................................. 23 Enclosure complexity ....................................................................................................... 23 3 Environmental enrichment ............................................................................................... 24 Indoor accommodations................................................................................................... 25 Nest boxes/dens .............................................................................................................. 25 Neighboring species ......................................................................................................... 26 Wolverine biology................................................................................................................ 26 Age ................................................................................................................................. 26 Health ............................................................................................................................. 26 Social behavior ................................................................................................................ 27 Abnormal/stereotypic behavior ........................................................................................ 27 Institution characteristics ..................................................................................................... 28 Diet ................................................................................................................................. 28 Experience....................................................................................................................... 29 Training ........................................................................................................................... 29 Human-animal interaction ................................................................................................... 30 Keeper effect ................................................................................................................... 30 Visitor effect .................................................................................................................... 31 Hierarchical cluster analysis ................................................................................................. 31 All factors............................................................................................................................ 31 Missing factors and future research ...................................................................................... 32 Ethical, social and sustainable aspects .................................................................................. 33 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 33 POPULAR SCIENCE SUMMARY .................................................................................................. 34 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.............................................................................................................. 35 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 36 APPENDIX I ............................................................................................................................. 45 4 ABSTRACT Conservation biologists have long faced the very challenging task of large carnivore conservation. Both their hunting habits and their very specific ecology make their conservation particularly difficult. Wolverines (Gulo g. gulo) are a good example of this. The population of wolverines is close to extinction due to human persecution and habitat loss. The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) introduced the European Endangered Species Program (EEP) for the Wolverine in 1994 but it experiences some irregular breeding. The aim of this study was to identify factors that could be connected to breeding success in these captive wolverines regarding the characteristics of the enclosures, the wolverine biology, the characteristics of the institutions and the influences of the human- animal interactions. To this end, an online survey was developed and sent to